Abandoned 'cute kid' listed in good condition 2-day-old girl found in alley is doing just fine.

March 22, 1991|By Alisa Samuels | Alisa Samuels,Evening Sun Staff

A 2-day-old girl who was found Wednesday afternoon in an East Baltimore alley is doing fine, doctors say.

The 5-pound, 4-ounce infant is listed in good condition at the neonatal intensive care unit at Johns Hopkins Children's Center, said Jan Shulman, a hospital spokeswoman.

"She's a good-looking baby, a cute kid," said Dr. Allen Walker, a pediatrician who treated the baby in the Johns Hopkins emergency room Wednesday.

A woman found the baby about 4 p.m. Wednesday in the 2200 block of E. Biddle St., police said. The tiny girl was determined to be a half-hour old then. The woman took her inside and called paramedics.

When the baby first arrived at the emergency room, "I immediately put a stocking cap on her head to cut down on heat loss," Walker said. "She responded well to warming up."

The baby is believed to be the daughter of a 14-year-old girl who also was taken to Hopkins' neonatal intensive care unit. The teen-ager, who was reported in good condition, has denied being the mother or leaving the child, police said. The infant was full term when she was born, Shulman said.

The teen-ager is expected to be be released from the hospital later this week. The infant is to remain in the neonatal intensive care unit until a foster family is found.

The department will obtain an "order for shelter" from the courts so the baby can be placed in a foster home, said Sue Fitzsimmons, a spokeswoman for the Department of Social Services. It wasn't immediately known how long that will take.

It also was unclear whether the 14-year-old might be charged.

Walker said the abandonment of babies "is very rare, very unusual." Fitzsimmons said there might be two or three abandoned babies in Baltimore each year.

Fitzsimmons said prenatal and postpartum help is available for "desperate" mothers who think they cannot handle the responsibilities of motherhood. They can dial 361-2235 to obtain assistance 24 hours a day, she said.